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Lalo commits to blanco-only approach

The third generation of the family behind Don Julio, Eduardo ‘Lalo’ González, spoke to us about why he started his own additive-free premium Tequila brand.

Lalo
L-R: founders Jim McDermont (CEO), David ‘R’ Carballido (chief brand officer) and Eduardo ‘Lalo’ González (chief product officer)

Having made its first public appearance on the cocktail menu of a friend’s wedding in 2017, Lalo Tequila is now available across all 50 US states and has also just rolled out its first nationwide campaign.

“We’re super proud to say that we’re in the top five super-premium blancos in the US for sales, which after four years is pretty impressive”, says Eduardo ‘Lalo’ González, co-founder of the brand. Citing Nielsen data from May 2024, Lalo claims to be one of the ‘top 10 fastest-growing spirits in the US’.

González initially created Lalo with his childhood friend and fellow Guadalajara-born Tequila enthusiast David Carballido as a private batch for friends and family, but launched it as an official brand in January 2020 after an “overwhelmingly positive” reaction. The process to take the liquid to market took nearly two-and-half-years.

The name ‘Lalo’ is a tribute to the nickname González’s late grandfather, Don Julio González Estrada (whom Don Julio 1942 the world’s second largest-selling Tequila brand, is founded after), gave him and his father Eduardo ‘Lalo’ González, who shares the same name as González and created Don Julio in 1987 in honour of his father’s 45 years as a Tequila producer.

As the third generation of the family, González is looking to continue their legacy in the Tequila business.

Of his Tequila education and the influence of his family, González says that he drew from both his father and his grandfather’s different ways of looking at the industry. Don Julio was in love with the fields, the terroir and the plants, while his father was more engaged and excited about showing Tequila on the same level as expensive whiskies and Cognacs. Even though the family sold Don Julio to Diageo in 2003, González is clear that he knew he always wanted to do something with Tequila.

Lalo
The brand’s first campaign portrays Mexico through the founder’s eyes

With Lalo, the idea was to create a Tequila “for us, by us and for our community in Guadalajara”, he says. The new campaign named ‘See New’, the brand’s first big nationwide marketing push, relays this vision by capturing Mexico through founders’ experience of their home country. For González this means “showcasing Mexican designers, architecture, cuisine. Mexico has been around forever, but all of sudden it’s having a moment. In the early 90s, people just saw Blancos as a mixer, but we’re trying to show Tequila in a new way. Same for Mexico. And that is what the See New campaign is all about. We are born and raised in Mexico and it just brings a different representation to our home”.

Purely blanco

What makes Lalo special, González says, is that the brand’s offering consists of just an additive-free blanco. There’s no reposado or añejo in the lineup – just a blanco, simply made from three ingredients: water from Jalisco, highland agave also handpicked from Jalisco, and Champagne yeast.

There’s multiple reasons for sticking to just the blanco, he explains: “For one, we truly believe that if you’re passionate about doing something – which we are very passionate about, the agave plant and the blanco expression – it just doesn’t feel authentic to do something else. And two) we believe that the ageing process of Tequila really happens in the agave fields and not in a barrel. We believe that it’s just not fair for these beautiful plants to stay there for five, six, seven years, waiting to be harvested. You also mask the flavour with barrels or additives, so that’s why we decided to only do blanco. A lot of respect for the other brands that have other expressions, but we’re trying to stay true to ourselves.”

Lalo
Lalo’s sole Tequila offering is a blanco made from three ingredients

Of course, Lalo isn’t the only premium additive-free blanco on the market – far from it. When asked how his version is unique in comparison to its competitors, González points to its versatility and the flavour being “very sessionable”. He notes: “We wanted to create something that people can sip on, but also, as it costs more money, doesn’t make them feel guilty when mixing with something else.”

Acknowledging that the market is saturated, González says there is still space for brands with Lalo’s approach.

“Yeah, it’s [the Tequila category] saturated obviously, but there’s room for a cleaner version of Tequila with authenticity and tradition.”

Right now the focus remains with doubling down in its key market, the US, and telling the brand’s story – “Lalo is a storytelling brand, we have a story to tell and it’s a story that matters”, he asserts.

Lalo hasn’t given any thought to a large-scale takeover, should it attract the interest of a big spirits company like his family’s Tequila did.  “We’re just focused on growing and scaling Lalo ourselves”, he says.

“The reality is that Tequila is a hot category, so I can’t say what will happen in the future. Right now we’re just focused on growing ourselves, and this is our baby. We’re excited about what’s coming for the brand and what’s ahead of us. That’s the most exciting thing, seeing a kind of wide space in the market for brands like us.”

However, he adds that Lalo could potentially expand outside in foreign markets next year. “It’s something we’ve talked about, but we are not actively thinking about expansion. This year we’ve become a national brand and we’ve started to grow in California and other big states. That is the focus.”

Not to be limited, González also adds that even with an exclusively blanco approach, there still lots of room for innovation with this type of Tequila. He keeps tightlipped on what that might be, but confirms there will be more products for the future. Other bottle sizes for the blanco are also being considered.

“Ultimately, the main goal is to bring people back to additive-free, clean blanco Tequilas.”

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